I have long wanted to put together a slideshow of favorite shots from a calendar year, so today I started playing with Photoshop's tool for this (baby steps). I haven't set it to music or anything fancy yet [Editor's Note: I just tried to add music, however not sure it works], but here are some shots from 2008. I'm testing it by placing it within Blogger, so we'll see if it works.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
9 Months
I am officially knocking on the door of my May 26th due date, so I consider myself fully incubated at this point. She has made very little movement downward, so my new concern is that I will be pregnant forever and ever Amen. OK. That is not my real concern. I would prefer she come of her own volition, rather than me be drug-pumped into delivery, but I'm pretty sure that at 1 week late, it'll be time to pull the plug on Operation Orca.
Two of my friends who were due around the same time as me delivered their children this week. This was the second for both of them, so luckily, they seemed to have pretty quick and easy deliveries. I'm telling you, the anxiety from my end is palpable.
This month marked weekly visits to the doctor, uncomfortable examinations (OWW. How come no one tells you about the painful examinations???), and le fin of my first year in graduate school. A toast to that! It is really sweet that I have had some time to relax and be a psychotic cleaner in between the worlds of academia and motherhood. Andrew couldn't be happier to be at work during the day, completely segregated from the cleaning frenzy. As Andrew stated to me after a morning of scrubbing: "You don't just want it clean, you want it STERILE." To that I respond, what's the difference?
I called the church in which we were married to find out how to start the process of baptism. When I told the lady in charge how close I was to delivery, she literally laughed long and heartily into the phone. Apparently, people are signing up for baptism dates close to delivery dates at the moment of conception. We don't plan on scheduling it until the winter when some of my family is in town, so supposedly, we MIGHT be in the knick of time on this front. Note to all teenagers planning on having children in their 30's: SIGN UP FOR A BAPTISM DATE NOW. We also found out that the daycare that we are planning to use while I'm in school, has a waiting list on which infants were placed BEFORE they were conceived. I realize I should just get over this and accept it as a fact of life in this day, in this area. I think there are some ludicrous things I'm just going to have to accept. Question:
Should we start college applications now, or next week? Or are we too late?
I started reading the book Baby 411 (recommended by a friend), which has been SO MUCH MORE HELPFUL than the week-by-week variety. It is organized by topic instead of time frame, and so it serves as much more efficient and organized reference material. I would recommend this to anyone having jitters over how to care for an infant. Leave a copy with the grandparents while you're at it.
We chose a pediatrician, with whom I'm very comfortable. She is young, personable, and very customer service friendly thus far. This is another thing I didn't know anything about - interviewing pediatricians. Thankfully, med school/resident friends provided me with a list of questions to ask in addition to the standard Google search. Yeah for people who will be future doctors! The MD guys at school definitely took special interest in my pregnancy, which I found kind of endearing actually.
The most common advice I get is some what annoying: Enjoy your sleep now while you can! Ha. Ha. Ha. What are these people talking about?? I can not possibly sleep well when my hips/back/bladder are behaving this way. Sleep is not very enjoyable right now, but I do believe this is nature's boot camp preparation. See how well you can function on 3 hours of very light sleep? Now multiply that times a hundred, and you might survive the first month of parenthood. Maybe.
The room is basically done at this point; the curtains are in the process, and I need to hang some last prints (yeah for outsourcing!), but I'm happy with the overall effect. It's more eclectic than a standard baby-themed room, but it makes me happy to be in there, so I figure until she is old enough to have a decorating opinion, we will decorate how we like it. The glider is the only thing we are missing (turns out we ordered it a little late), but we have a rocker on loan until it completes the room. I will post photos then!
As the last month comes to a close, I wonder if I will be at all sad not to be pregnant any more. All things considered, I had a relatively easy and painless pregnancy. I have been very lucky and grateful for the hand I have been dealt through out this process so far. Either way, I can't wait to meet the little Raspberry. So Wombling, whenever you decide to make your grand entrance, and you decide to stop testing my patience, I will be the really happy and emotional one smiling at you.
Two of my friends who were due around the same time as me delivered their children this week. This was the second for both of them, so luckily, they seemed to have pretty quick and easy deliveries. I'm telling you, the anxiety from my end is palpable.
This month marked weekly visits to the doctor, uncomfortable examinations (OWW. How come no one tells you about the painful examinations???), and le fin of my first year in graduate school. A toast to that! It is really sweet that I have had some time to relax and be a psychotic cleaner in between the worlds of academia and motherhood. Andrew couldn't be happier to be at work during the day, completely segregated from the cleaning frenzy. As Andrew stated to me after a morning of scrubbing: "You don't just want it clean, you want it STERILE." To that I respond, what's the difference?
I called the church in which we were married to find out how to start the process of baptism. When I told the lady in charge how close I was to delivery, she literally laughed long and heartily into the phone. Apparently, people are signing up for baptism dates close to delivery dates at the moment of conception. We don't plan on scheduling it until the winter when some of my family is in town, so supposedly, we MIGHT be in the knick of time on this front. Note to all teenagers planning on having children in their 30's: SIGN UP FOR A BAPTISM DATE NOW. We also found out that the daycare that we are planning to use while I'm in school, has a waiting list on which infants were placed BEFORE they were conceived. I realize I should just get over this and accept it as a fact of life in this day, in this area. I think there are some ludicrous things I'm just going to have to accept. Question:
Should we start college applications now, or next week? Or are we too late?
I started reading the book Baby 411 (recommended by a friend), which has been SO MUCH MORE HELPFUL than the week-by-week variety. It is organized by topic instead of time frame, and so it serves as much more efficient and organized reference material. I would recommend this to anyone having jitters over how to care for an infant. Leave a copy with the grandparents while you're at it.
We chose a pediatrician, with whom I'm very comfortable. She is young, personable, and very customer service friendly thus far. This is another thing I didn't know anything about - interviewing pediatricians. Thankfully, med school/resident friends provided me with a list of questions to ask in addition to the standard Google search. Yeah for people who will be future doctors! The MD guys at school definitely took special interest in my pregnancy, which I found kind of endearing actually.
The most common advice I get is some what annoying: Enjoy your sleep now while you can! Ha. Ha. Ha. What are these people talking about?? I can not possibly sleep well when my hips/back/bladder are behaving this way. Sleep is not very enjoyable right now, but I do believe this is nature's boot camp preparation. See how well you can function on 3 hours of very light sleep? Now multiply that times a hundred, and you might survive the first month of parenthood. Maybe.
The room is basically done at this point; the curtains are in the process, and I need to hang some last prints (yeah for outsourcing!), but I'm happy with the overall effect. It's more eclectic than a standard baby-themed room, but it makes me happy to be in there, so I figure until she is old enough to have a decorating opinion, we will decorate how we like it. The glider is the only thing we are missing (turns out we ordered it a little late), but we have a rocker on loan until it completes the room. I will post photos then!
As the last month comes to a close, I wonder if I will be at all sad not to be pregnant any more. All things considered, I had a relatively easy and painless pregnancy. I have been very lucky and grateful for the hand I have been dealt through out this process so far. Either way, I can't wait to meet the little Raspberry. So Wombling, whenever you decide to make your grand entrance, and you decide to stop testing my patience, I will be the really happy and emotional one smiling at you.
Monday, May 18, 2009
17 Days Down... Turns Out I Like Taking Photos
On my photo blog project, I have done much better than I anticipated. I thought I would slack off after a week tops, but BEHOLD! I made it 17 days continuously! I wonder how long that will last.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Plain Wrong
I spent 5 hours yesterday waddling around the Houston Premium Outlets that opened a couple months ago, with some serious power shopping women. I can't even convey to you the ridiculousness that is my gigantic being, paroosing the clothing at designer stores. They don't make maternity or post-maternity, people. I'm just saying. It was some kind of form of torture.
Friday, May 01, 2009
8 Months
This is a few days late, but with good intention! Sorry Wombling, Mama had to write a report or something. School can be a pain sometimes, and I wanted to make sure I was free from the burden of looming deadlines while writing this.
This month has been like perpetual pressing fast-forward, but at the same time pressing pause. It marked the start of very frequent visits to the OB, which makes me a waddling PRO, I tell you. Did you know pregnant women size each other up? In a way I would never imagine - I can spot a preggo chick from a mile away now, and probably tell you within 2 weeks plus or minus, how far along she is. I took a few health tests, all of which came out negative (a good thing!) and even started getting examined for progress. I have been 50% effaced with ZERO dilation for two weeks now (this is also a good thing). this month we had an ultrasound and we got lucky with a really nice tech, and she gave us a 3D/4D ultrasound as well, just for fun. It's still rather hard to see anything clearly, but we did get face shots, and she looked much less Darth-Vaderish than in regular ultrasounds. She slept through the whole thing (go figure, some one's watching, she is quiet as a mouse), but she did manage to peep one eye open a bit in one photo before shoving her hand in front of her face. Apparently, The Wombling had had enough of the paparazzi.
I can feel (and see) my stomach dropping down, in a most peculiar way. The scary stretch mark phobia? It was warranted. I now have what I call my 101, because it is small lines on either side of my belly button, making it look like the number 101. God help me if it becomes my 1,110,111. So far, so good. There are things I can do to remove them, so I'm hopeful. This is me expressing my vanity, I know. The weight does become an issue, in the sense that I can FEEL it now. When I try to move quickly or turn over in bed, or just be my usual clumsy self, not realizing my space limitations, and knocking my stomach into things. At school, I consented and stopped carrying a big backpack, instead taking the rolling laptop bag that my friends kept insisting I borrow. I am one of those rolling bag people now. Awesome. One good thing, is that I have managed to keep my weight gain in control for the most part. I have gained a total of 18 pounds, and I'm hoping we don't move beyond that too much in the last few weeks.
However, my new love for bleu-cheese-stuffed olives and chocolate milk might not help that. Andrew cringes when he sees me pulling those out.
Last weekend I finally got a bug in my butt and ordered the remainder of things we need to have a baby. "Need" is a loosely-interpreted word really, but you can't explain these things to a crazy woman. The only item left to order now is a glider, which I'm shopping for with my mother next week. I can't bring myself to order a glider online. Somehow I feel like I need to sit in it and try it to actually be convinced. And those suckers are not cheap, so Hello There! Maximizer-Tendencies! You have reared your ugly head once again. It has been fun to receive packages in the mail everyday, I must admit. Snail mail is heavily under-rated.
We took the final class for preparation, the birthing class at the hospital, much to Andrew's amusement. It was, well, LONG. And really, the videos are pretty funny, offering not much more than what a book tells you, other than the gruesome images. I was not at all prepared for what a placenta looks like. Dear God, it's like delivering a twin! I did physically recoil at that part. First question I asked? How long after birth do we have to wait before taking a shower?
I am, all at once, excited to meet her and hoping she stays in a few weeks so I can get some rest after school is over. I have several projects lined up for post-school-traumatic-stress-syndrome (this is where I don't know how to relax after being stressed out for a while), and I can collectively feel Andrew and Janet rolling their eyes from here. They know this means more work for them too. Because it is absolutely necessary that we MAKE proper mobiles, right? RIGHT??
This month has been like perpetual pressing fast-forward, but at the same time pressing pause. It marked the start of very frequent visits to the OB, which makes me a waddling PRO, I tell you. Did you know pregnant women size each other up? In a way I would never imagine - I can spot a preggo chick from a mile away now, and probably tell you within 2 weeks plus or minus, how far along she is. I took a few health tests, all of which came out negative (a good thing!) and even started getting examined for progress. I have been 50% effaced with ZERO dilation for two weeks now (this is also a good thing). this month we had an ultrasound and we got lucky with a really nice tech, and she gave us a 3D/4D ultrasound as well, just for fun. It's still rather hard to see anything clearly, but we did get face shots, and she looked much less Darth-Vaderish than in regular ultrasounds. She slept through the whole thing (go figure, some one's watching, she is quiet as a mouse), but she did manage to peep one eye open a bit in one photo before shoving her hand in front of her face. Apparently, The Wombling had had enough of the paparazzi.
I can feel (and see) my stomach dropping down, in a most peculiar way. The scary stretch mark phobia? It was warranted. I now have what I call my 101, because it is small lines on either side of my belly button, making it look like the number 101. God help me if it becomes my 1,110,111. So far, so good. There are things I can do to remove them, so I'm hopeful. This is me expressing my vanity, I know. The weight does become an issue, in the sense that I can FEEL it now. When I try to move quickly or turn over in bed, or just be my usual clumsy self, not realizing my space limitations, and knocking my stomach into things. At school, I consented and stopped carrying a big backpack, instead taking the rolling laptop bag that my friends kept insisting I borrow. I am one of those rolling bag people now. Awesome. One good thing, is that I have managed to keep my weight gain in control for the most part. I have gained a total of 18 pounds, and I'm hoping we don't move beyond that too much in the last few weeks.
However, my new love for bleu-cheese-stuffed olives and chocolate milk might not help that. Andrew cringes when he sees me pulling those out.
Last weekend I finally got a bug in my butt and ordered the remainder of things we need to have a baby. "Need" is a loosely-interpreted word really, but you can't explain these things to a crazy woman. The only item left to order now is a glider, which I'm shopping for with my mother next week. I can't bring myself to order a glider online. Somehow I feel like I need to sit in it and try it to actually be convinced. And those suckers are not cheap, so Hello There! Maximizer-Tendencies! You have reared your ugly head once again. It has been fun to receive packages in the mail everyday, I must admit. Snail mail is heavily under-rated.
We took the final class for preparation, the birthing class at the hospital, much to Andrew's amusement. It was, well, LONG. And really, the videos are pretty funny, offering not much more than what a book tells you, other than the gruesome images. I was not at all prepared for what a placenta looks like. Dear God, it's like delivering a twin! I did physically recoil at that part. First question I asked? How long after birth do we have to wait before taking a shower?
I am, all at once, excited to meet her and hoping she stays in a few weeks so I can get some rest after school is over. I have several projects lined up for post-school-traumatic-stress-syndrome (this is where I don't know how to relax after being stressed out for a while), and I can collectively feel Andrew and Janet rolling their eyes from here. They know this means more work for them too. Because it is absolutely necessary that we MAKE proper mobiles, right? RIGHT??
Today is a New Day.
I started a mini-goal in my head to take one photo a day and post it on a blog to chronicle life's small and big events in a less-wordy way. I told myself that starting this month (Happy May Day! Anyone else do #4 and #5 as a child?? )I would commit to it. Yes this is a small goal, no this does not solve world peace, but it is something small I take pleasure in, and hope that I will treasure this project in the future. Let's see how long I can keep up:
A Photo A Day Keeps Insanity Away
Go there! Now!
A Photo A Day Keeps Insanity Away
Go there! Now!
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